


Blood Covenant

by LazyCharizardd



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/F, M/M, Twin dragonborns, Two Dragonborns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:48:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22429645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyCharizardd/pseuds/LazyCharizardd
Summary: Cedric and Estelle Areine, fraternal twins raised in High Rock, have been living in Skyrim after getting away from the toxicity of living amongst the nobility in their homeland. For ten years, they have enjoyed a successful life in Tamriel's northernmost province, until they are plunged into the civil war along with the rest of Skyrim's citizens. The return of the dragons only worsens the conflict, and Cedric and Estelle discover that they are both Dragonborns, and are destined to fulfill the prophecy and kill Alduin. Despite being close for their entire lives, the twins eventually find themselves drifting further apart as differences in their alliances, relationships and senses of duty force them to take different paths. However, they must find a way to put aside their differences, and unite against defeating the World Eater before he devours all of Tamriel.
Relationships: Elenwen/Female Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Male Dovahkiin | Dragonborn/Ulfric Stormcloak
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

4E 191

The snow was falling gently as the two bretons found themselves at the border between High Rock and Skyrim. Cedric and Estelle had made the decision to leave High Rock for a life that wasn't controlled by their parents, and the constant toxicity that came with their noble status. Now, they hoped, they could begin a new life. 

"This is it," Cedric breathed, sending a white cloud of air into the overcast sky as they came to a halt in front of the gate. The guards nodded in greeting, opening the gate after being satisfied with what their intentions were to enter the province.  
"Wait," Estelle held her twin back by his arm as he walked towards the gate. Cedric looked down at his sister in confusion as she unsheathed a dagger.  
"Before we leave High Rock, we need to make a promise." She explained, taking off the glove on her right hand.  
Cedric was puzzled.  
"What for?" he asked, shifting impatiently. He was itching to start a new life in Skyrim, where their parents weren't watching them like hawks and dictating their every move.  
Estelle sighed, looking him in the eye.  
"We need to promise each other that we'll always be there for one another. That we'll be close as siblings no matter what happens. This is our chance to start a new life, and I want you to always be a part of mine."  
Cedric wasn't a very serious person--he always teased his sister for it. But this time, he didn't. For once, he felt the same way. Even though they were no longer under the control of their parents, living a life that they hated, they both needed to make sure that they always could find support in each other, wherever their lives took them.  
"A blood covenant..." Cedric's voice was practically a whisper. Estelle nodded, and without flinching, sliced her palm with the dagger. Droplets of crimson dotted the freshly fallen snow beneath them and she gave him the dagger. She balled up her bleeding hand in a fist as she waited for her brother to do the same.  
Cedric stared down at the blood covered dagger for a moment before he made a quick, clean cut on his palm, gritting his teeth as he did so.  
His sister held out her hand. Her palm was almost completely stained red.  
"Do you promise?" she asked him, her olive green gaze boring into his.  
Cedric extended his hand, and they shook hands. 

"I promise."


	2. Ambushed

The arrow flew, hitting the grass and spooking the deer. It bounded away as Estelle let out a frustrated yell.   
"Cedric, you know I'm not good at hunting--I don't know why you brought me along." she grumbled in frustration to her brother, who laughed in amusement.   
"That's why I asked you to come, Estelle. You've forced me to read enough spell tomes that I figured you could at least come hunting with me."  
The elder breton rolled her eyes and continued to move stealthily through the underbrush, spotting the same deer she had pursued earlier grazing in a thicket. 

Cedric had insisted they go hunting in Darkwater Crossing. They had been in Riften the day before, in search of a rare spell tome that Estelle had been searching for. She did owe him one after insisting he travel to Riften with her, so she begrudgingly agreed.   
The two siblings stopped abruptly as they heard movement behind them. Cedric turned his head, his eyes brightening as he saw a patrol of Stormcloaks.   
"It's just a Stormcloak patrol--is that Ulfric leading them?" he remarked. Almost immediately after having finished his sentence, Cedric had made his way over to the group of soldiers. Estelle was slightly annoyed but followed her brother anyways. 

"Ice-Veins! I wasn't expecting to see you out here," Ulfric said, addressing Cedric by his rank. He had joined the Stormcloaks a couple of months prior, much to Estelle's surprise. Having been raised in High Rock alongside her brother, Estelle hadn't expected him to take an interest in Skyrim's civil war. Then again, it wasn't exactly unusual for her brother to subvert her expectations, either.   
"I see you've brought along your sister." The Jarl noted, nodding to Estelle, who was keeping an eye on the deer she had failed to kill earlier.   
"Yes! How did you know? --I've never introduced you to Estelle."   
"You both look so much alike--it's as if you were twins."  
Estelle exhaled through her nose in a short chuckle, smirking.   
"We are."   
It was painfully obvious. The two of them, along with looking alike, were extremely close. Apart from a few occasions, the two of them always travelled together. They had been born a minute apart, with Estelle being the eldest--which was something that Estelle always liked mentioning. 

They followed the patrol as they made their way closer to the border between Eastmarch and The Rift. Estelle was trailing a bit further behind, half listening to her brother's conversation with Ulfric about how the war was going. It seemed that the Stormcloaks were gaining influence in the province, from what she could gather.   
Suddenly, all the soldiers were drawing their weapons. She heard her brother mumble a curse word under his breath, and gently shoved her way through to the front of the group.   
She scanned the forest in front of them, her eyes widening as she spotted a group of Imperial soldiers running towards them. 

"We're being ambushed," Ulfric growled. In a matter of seconds, they were surrounded, and Estelle felt a surge of anxiety. Why did she have to be caught up in this? She wasn't a rebel. She didn't take any side in the war. She decided then and there that if they wanted to capture her, they would have to drag her kicking and screaming. 

The group of Stormcloaks, including Ulfric and Cedric, had surrendered, since the Imperials vastly outnumbered them. Estelle, however, was a different story.   
She was surrounded by four soldiers, who were desperately trying to restrain her. Her magic kept them at bay.   
"I'm not a rebel! Let me go!" She screamed, having readied a destruction spell. Her hands were pulsing with electric sparks as she held back the magic, pleading with the soldiers.  
"You honestly think we're going to let you go? How do we know you're not one of those rebels?" One of the soldiers asked. 

Cedric was watching his sister with disbelief. Estelle was always one to hold her ground, but this was dangerous. She could be killed if she didn't back down.  
"Estelle, cut it out! Just do what they say!" he shouted desperately. He was surprised that it wasn't the other way around--usually Estelle was the one stopping him from doing something stupid. But it was clear that his sister would rather fight than be captured for being associated with a group she wasn't a part of.   
The four soldiers surrounding her tumbled to the ground as her destruction spell erupted from her hands, sending sparks of purple electricity flying.   
Before Cedric had the chance to warn her, a soldier had fired an arrow in her direction from behind her, and it struck her in the shoulder blade. Estelle fell over with a pained scream. It was only then that the soldiers had subdued her, and quickly tied her hands behind her back, pulling the arrow from her shoulder without warning.   
"Salaud!" She cursed through gritted teeth as she was yanked upwards and led to the cart of prisoners. The soldier didn't acknowledge her swearing, and simply gave her a warning.   
"Don't try anything, mage." The soldier spat; his eyes narrowed in disdain. She was sat beside Ralof, who was Cedric's close friend and a Stormcloak commander. 

"You're bleeding," Cedric told his sister, worried that she'd bleed out. She was nearly unconscious but had enough strength to use a destruction spell to burn through the bindings keeping her hands together. With the remaining strength that she had, she used a simple restoration spell. It had been strong enough to at least stop the bleeding but caused her to lose consciousness. She slumped over, her head falling sideways onto Ralof's shoulder.   
"She'll be fine for now," Ralof remarked as he looked at the wound on her shoulder, which was no longer oozing blood.   
Cedric was relieved that his sister would be okay, but he knew that wherever they were being taken, it wouldn't be good. 

They were on the road to Helgen. They were all listening intently to what the Imperials in the front of the cart were saying--General Tullius had ordered their execution, and it would be the day after their arrival in Helgen, as they needed to be processed. Not wanting to risk going to Cyrodiil to have them executed, General Tullius had ordered that they be taken to the closest town under Imperial control.   
By the time they had arrived in Helgen, they had picked up another prisoner, Nokir, who had been caught stealing a horse. He had been complaining nonstop about how he wasn't one of them, and how he should be spared. Cedric was overjoyed, at least, to not have to put up with Nokir's whining as they were ordered to get off the cart. Estelle had woken up by then and was trying to hide the fact that she was unbound. Cedric knew that as soon as she saw an opportunity, that she would make a run for it.   
As soon as Ralof was led off to be put in a cell with the rest of the soldiers, Estelle took her chance. Leaping from the cart, she dashed towards the gate. Her escape was thwarted, however. Her foot caught on a loose piece of cobblestone, and she fell to the ground. Estelle could see a pair of boots coming towards her, lifting her head to see General Tullius looking down at her with a smirk.   
"You're quite persistent. You may not be a traitor, but I'm afraid your actions have elevated your charges. You'll be executed along with the rest of them,"   
he loomed over her, ordering his soldiers to restrain her with metal shackles instead of regular bindings.   
"fils de pute," she cursed at him as she was put in shackles, and led away to the temporary holding cell she would be put in. Tullius glared at her.   
"Search all the prisoners and keep an eye on that damn mage. She's nothing but trouble." He ordered as he stormed towards the barracks to write up a report.

Not long after her ordered the prisoners to be put in cells, the Thalmor arrived in Helgen. Elenwen had come to witness the execution as dictated under the terms of the White-Gold Concordat, flanked by two guards. General Tullius rode out to the gates to meet her, slowing his horse to a halt in front of the Ambassador.   
"Ambassador Elenwen," he greeted curtly. If it were his choice, the Thalmor wouldn't be there, but he had to follow the terms of the treaty.   
"General," she returned the greeting, sounding irritated.   
"By the authority of the Thalmor, I'm taking custody of your prisoners." She ordered. General Tullius shook his head.   
"Elenwen, you can't dictate what I choose to do with my prisoners. They are to be executed for crimes against the Empire. You have no right--"   
"Your Emperor will hear of this! By the terms of the White-Gold Concordat, I operate with full Imperial authority! You're making a terrible mistake!"   
Damn the Concordat. The Stormcloak rebels were finally in the General's grasp, and he intended to execute them, and cut the head off the rebellion once and for all. Couldn't the Ambassador see that?   
Tullius pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, sensing the headache that he would no doubt get from having to argue over the terms of a stupid treaty. Ulfric needed to be executed, along with the rest of the rebels.   
Tullius looked thoughtful for a moment as the mage he had dealt with earlier crossed his mind. She was a prisoner--and an unimportant one. Maybe he could compromise by surrendering her to the Thalmor's custody?

"The Stormcloak rebels are simply too important for me to surrender them to you. However, I do have a prisoner that might be of some interest." General Tullius explained, hopeful that it would pique her interest.   
"And who would this be? Don't waste my time, General." she snapped, although there was a glimmer of interest in her eyes. General Tullius turned his horse around, gesturing for her to follow him back into town.   
"This prisoner is a mage. She seems very knowledgeable by what my soldiers have told me--perhaps having her in your custody could be useful."  
Elenwen simply stared at him for a moment, as if she were pondering the offer. As they dismounted their horses in front of the barracks where the prisoners were being held, she nodded her head.   
"Alright. Show me this prisoner. If she is of use to me, then I will consider it."  
It would be a pain for Elenwen to lose Ulfric, who was her greatest asset, however an end to the war would prove useful. An end to the rebellion meant that she would be able to continue to enforce the ban on Talos worship and considering the Thalmor had the Empire under their thumb already, it wasn't much of a loss. Hopefully this prisoner was as useful as Tullius painted her to be. 

Tullius gave her a full explanation of the prisoner based on what he knew as they descended the stairs into the prison. She had been captured along with the Stormcloak rebels and had apparently put up quite a fight. She proved to be a force to be reckoned with due to her talent as a mage.  
The two of them could hear shouting down the hallway as they made their way to her cell. 

"If you touch those scrolls, I will end you! That is years worth of research!"  
It was clear to Tullius that she was probably being searched, and she wasn't taking it too kindly.   
The mage was being held in an isolated cell, separate from the others. He didn't want to risk her being around the other prisoners, for fear she could help them escape.   
As they neared her cell, they could see an Imperial soldier locking it back up as he left, turning towards the General with an unpleasant scowl.   
"Be careful. She's a handful, that one." he said as he handed Tullius the key. Glaring sternly at the mage, he spoke to her through the bars of her cell.   
"Well, it seems you've made a reputation for yourself. My associate here is going to take you into her custody." Tullius explained.   
Elewen watched intently from behind the General.   
"Brûle en enfer! I'm not doing anything of the sort!" she protested.   
Elenwen was surprised upon hearing the language she spoke in. Many of the bretons in Skyrim did not speak their native tongue, as they were Reachmen and were from an entirely different culture. Perhaps she was from High Rock? She had been hesitant to believe the General when he had said she would be valuable to her, but Elenwen was beginning to agree.   
Elenwen stepped in front of the General.   
"I will handle this. I've considered it, and this prisoner will most definitely be of use to me." she said with a smirk. The breton locked eyes with Elenwen, her gaze filled with fear. Estelle knew about the Thalmor, and what they did to their prisoners.   
The General nodded, and walked away without another word, handing the key to Elenwen.   
Estelle's cell was unlocked, and Elenwen stepped inside, along with her guards.   
"You're coming with me." Elenwen told her. Estelle noticed that the Thalmor ambassador's hands began to glow a light shade of blue. She immediately recognized it to be an Illusion spell, and before she could do anything, she was hit with an overwhelming urge to be perfectly calm.   
"You don't need to worry about anything." Elenwen said with a warm smile. Estelle was under the influence of her illusion spell and was compelled to go along with whatever the Ambassador wanted.   
Everything--the execution, the Stormcloaks, her brother--was all forgotten as she obediently followed the Ambassador out of the barracks.


	3. Unbound

Cedric   
Cedric stood with Ulfric, awaiting their execution. He hadn’t seen Estelle since yesterday and was worried about what they’d done with her.   
He narrowed his eyes in anger as General Tullius approached Ulfric with a stern look on his face.   
“Ulfric. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn’t use his voice to murder his king and usurp his throne,” Tullius began. Cedric remembered the day that Ulfric challenged the High King to a duel. It was fair, according to Nordic tradition. Considering both Ulfric and Torygg were Nords, Cedric thought that the duel had been perfectly reasonable.   
General Tullius grinned as he stared at the Jarl, who was gagged at the mouth. Since he had the power of the voice, they had gagged him for fear that he would use it.   
“You started this war. Plunged Skyrim into chaos. But now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace!” General Tullius growled, standing back beside the Imperial Captain, who turned to the priestess of the Divines.   
“Give them their last rites.” She ordered impatiently. The priestess nodded, raising her hands in the air as she started to pray.   
“As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines be upon you—”   
“For the love of Talos, shut up and let’s get this over with!” A voice shouted from behind them. Cedric and Ulfric could see one of the Stormcloak soldiers pushing his way through the crowd of prisoners. He seemed irritated and determined to get his execution over with. For a moment, Cedric admired his courage. He certainly wouldn’t volunteer himself. If he was going to go, he would go last, in hopes that something would stop the execution.   
“As you wish.” The priestess said curtly, looking surprised that she had been cut off. The Stormcloak soldier approached the block quickly, beginning to kneel.   
“Come on, I haven’t got all morning!” The redheaded Nord snapped, his impatience growing with each passing second. Casting a glance at Ulfric, Cedric could see that he was deeply troubled as he watched one of his men eagerly embracing death. As the headsman readied his axe, the soldier said his last words:   
“My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials. Can you say the same?”  
There was a momentary pause before the sound of the axe coming down on the Stormcloak’s neck broke the silence. It was an eerie sound that brought a general feeling of unease to the prisoners as they realized that that was it. The soldier had passed on to Sovngarde, and they would soon be facing the same fate.   
“As fearless in death as he was in life…” Cedric heard Ralof mutter. He silently wished that each of them would go quickly and painlessly as he stared at the soldier’s head, which was now resting in a box.   
“Next, the Breton!” the captain shouted, looking at him as if he were something she had just scraped off her boot. Cedric froze as an unsettling feeling of dread came over him. He couldn’t be next. He didn’t want to die. Not like this.   
A sudden, unfamiliar noise made them look up at the mountains above the town. It sounded like a roar.  
“What was that?” asked Hadvar, who was one of the higher-ranking Imperial soldiers. Tullius shook his head dismissively.   
“It’s nothing. Carry on.” He urged. Cedric shared a final look with Ulfric. Despite not being able to speak, the look in his eye told Cedric everything he needed to know. Face your death with courage, and you will be rewarded in the afterlife. As a breton, Cedric didn’t know if he would go to Sovngarde. But there was no way of knowing. The thought of that uncertainty frightened him.   
He slowly made he way forward. All eyes were on him as he approached the block. As he knelt, he felt the boot of the imperial captain pushing him downwards. His neck was resting firmly on the block, and he closed his eyes. He made a silent prayer to Talos, and his mind began to be occupied by thoughts of his sister. Wherever she was—alive or dead—he hoped that she was at peace. 

His ears filled with the sound of an ear-piercing roar. It sounded the same as the sound they had heard earlier.  
“Sentries, what do you see?” The imperial captain asked. Cedric’s eyes flew open as the ground shook, knocking the executioner down. Bows and swords were drawn, and Cedric’s gaze grew wider as he heard panicked screams.   
“Dragon!”  
Dizzily, Cedric looked up to see a pair of red eyes glinting back at him. The dragon was as black as the night, and Cedric found himself paralyzed with fear as the creature reared its head, shouting words in a language that sounded oddly familiar into the sky.  
The clouds that had formed above turned a sickening hue of yellow, and meteors began to fall to the ground below.   
The breton snapped back to reality as he was pulled upwards by Ralof. The two of them hurried towards the keep that wasn’t far from where they were standing. Cedric felt relieved as he saw that Ulfric was peering out from behind the doorway.   
“Jarl Ulfric, what is that thing? Could the legends be true?” Ralof questioned with a look of pure horror on his face.   
“Legends don’t burn down villages.”   
The three men scrambled to find a way out of the burning town, managing to find their way into another keep, which led down into a cave. After fighting off the Imperial soldiers who had the same idea, they managed to emerge from the cave relatively unharmed into Falkreath’s dense forest.   
“Are you hurt?” Ulfric asked Cedric as they were walking through the trees. Cedric shook his head, still shocked by the day’s events.   
“I’m alright. Gods, I’m glad we made it out of there.”  
When they reached the standing stones by the river, Cedric and Ralof agreed that they would travel to Riverwood together. Ulfric would travel back to Windhelm, hopefully managing to stay in one piece.   
“Come to Windhelm when you can, Ice-Veins. We need to plan our next move against the Imperials now that this dragon attack has thrown them off.”   
Cedric could see that Ulfric had wanted them to travel together to the city, but since the dragon was headed towards Whiterun, Cedric thought it best to warn them first.   
“Once I warn Jarl Balgruuf about that dragon, I’ll go to Windhelm as soon as possible.” He reassured Ulfric, who wished him well before they parted ways.


End file.
